178 mph gusts batter Aleutian Coast Guard outpost

Thanks Richard Hiscock of offsoundings.com

[FONT=VERDANA, ARIAL, HELVETICA, SANS-SERIF][B]178 mph gusts batter Aleutian Coast Guard outpost

[/B][/FONT][FONT=VERDANA, ARIAL, HELVETICA, SANS-SERIF]By JAMES HALPIN
jhalpin@adn.com

(12/01/09 22:04:16) The storm mucking up Southcentral Alaska this week battered a far-flung U.S. Coast Guard outpost in the Aleutians over the weekend with hurricane-force winds, according to the National Weather Service.
Out in Attu, the crew of the Coast Guard’s Long-Range Navigation Station reported sustained winds of 125 mph with gusts hitting 178 mph over the weekend. The station also got more than a foot and a half of snow.
The gusts, equivalent to the winds of a Category 5 hurricane, damaged a communications antenna, which broke free from three securing mounts, the Coast Guard said.
The station’s crew has been making repairs and has spent more than 100 hours on snow removal.
There are 20 active-duty personnel based at the station on year-long assignments.
The storm made its way across the Bering Sea, hitting up the Aleutians and Southwest Alaska before passing through the region and heading for Southcentral.
“It was just a really deep low-pressure system,” said weather service forecaster Shaun Baines. “This one just kept moving right along.”
Find James Halpin online at adn.com/contact/jhalpin or call 257-4589.

<form target="_blank" onsubmit=‘return window.confirm(“You are submitting information to an external page.
Are you sure?”);’>
Copyright © Wed Dec 02 2009 09:04:29 GMT-0500 (Eastern Standard Time)1900 [B]The Anchorage Daily News (www.adn.com)[/B]</form>[/FONT]